In his first press conference Tuesday, soon-to-be Acting Attorney General Bruce Castor told the media he will be looking into the question of whether Kathleen Kane’s political consultant, Josh Morrow, who testified against Kane at the trial, could be subject to criminal prosecution for his actions related to leaking grand jury testimony.
Castor said he read in the newspaper Morrow told the court during the trial he thought he was immune from prosecution.
Castor said he does not understand how a county district attorney can bind the Attorney General’s Office from prosecuting someone for leaking testimony from a statewide grand jury.
When asked, Castor said the direction issued by the Montgomery County Judge Monday to Kane not to retaliate against witnesses in the trial, did not apply to him.
Castor said if he thought a prosecution of Morrow was in order, he would ask the court for clarification.
In response to another question, Castor said he would have difficulty dismissing Kane appointees right and left because there would be no one left to advise him.
Castor said he does not make decisions on whether to prosecute or dismiss individuals based on retribution, but on facts.
On the issue of Douglas Gansler’s investigation of porngate emails started by Kane, Castor said he still has not received a version of the first report he thought should clearly show which individuals sent which inappropriate emails to others.
In May, Castor canceled a planned press conference saying the report was not yet ready.
One version of the report he received, Castor said, had a file that gave his computer a virus. Castor said he even held up payments to Gansler’s law firm to get their attention.
Asked if he could end the contract, Castor said he didn’t think so and agreed the up to $2 million cost of the pornmail investigation could be better spent on the opioid epidemic or child abuse cases.
Castor, admitted he has had very little success in getting Gansler’s law firm-- Buckley Sandler in Maryland-- to do anything he wanted them to do.
Asked whether he thought he was qualified to be Attorney General in light of his failure to prosecute Bill Cosby for sexually assaulting women, Castor said he did not feel a need to respond to the question.NewsClips:
McKelvey: Porn Report Infected First Deputy AG Castor’s Computer
AP: Veteran Prosecutor To Step In For Convicted Attorney General
AP: Veteran Prosecutor To Step In For Convicted Attorney General
